Sam's Ghost
by Miandre
Summary: When only three members of SG1 return from a mission, General Hammond knows that something has gone wrong. But he doesn't know how bad it is until Daniel and Teal'c inform him that Sam died offworld, even though Jack claims that she's still there.
1. Chapter 1

SG1 walked down the ramp looking tired and confused. Actually, only three members of SG1 walked down the ramp, and out of them only Daniel and Teal'c looked tired and confused. Colonel O'Neill on the other hand looked confident and calm. Major Cater was no where to be seen. General Hammond sighed, he had know this team long enough to know that this was not a good sign.

"Briefing Room, immediately." He announced.

Jack O'Neill reached the bottom of the ramp and surveyed his team. For some reason that he couldn't fathom, Daniel and Teal'c looked they'd been run over by a truck. Carter was inspecting the complex looking piece of technology that she was holding.

"SG1, report to the Briefing Room immediately." General Hammond's voice ordered over the PA system.

"Carter, take that to your lab so that those geeks can start looking at it and meet us there." He said to his 2IC.

"Yes sir." She replied and was about to leave when Daniel's face stopped her. He was starting at Jack as if he was crazy.

"Daniel?" Jack asked with a frown.

"Jack you just asked Sam to take a device to her lab."

"So?"

Daniel's expression was almost frightening. He started talking very slowly as if he was explaining something to someone with an IQ of 20.

"For one thing, we didn't retrieve the device on P3X 777, and for another thing…" he said before Jack could interrupt, "Sam's dead."

There was a strained silence. And then,

"What!" Jack said in bewilderment, "but she's standing right there!" He pointed at Sam, who looked like she was weighing up Daniel's sanity.

"I'm not dead." She pointed out.

"Jack there's no one there."

"Of course there's someone there! Look!" Jack said, and poked Sam sharply in the arm.

"Exactly! I'm right here!" She added, poking him back.

Daniel waited patiently as Jack prodded the air next to him.

"I'm sorry Jack," he said helplessly, "but she's gone."

Sam stopped poking Jack and sighed.

"Daniel! Look, I'm here!" She said in exasperation, and walked up to Daniel with the intention of taking him by the shoulders and shaking him, but passed right through him and found herself on the other side.

"Uh…oh." She said with a sinking heart.

"Maybe we should head up to the briefing room?" Jack suggested, knowing that this was not going to be a good day.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Well, I was going to submit thison Thursdayso that it would be a week since the first chapter, but I couldn't because SOMEONE WAS ON THE COMPUTER ALL NIGHT! (glares at older brother)

Anyway. Here it is. The next update might be two weeks because next week I'll be away at music camp.

(ignore all spelling errors)

Disclaimer – I didn't invent Stargate SG1. (or did I?)

"But I'm right here!" Sam said in frustration, as everyone besides her commanding officer continued to ignore her.

"I think you'd better explain what happened." General Hammond said to Daniel, obviously believing he was the sanest person in the room. Jack had his head in his hands and appeared to be humming the "Futurama" theme song, and Teal'c looked, oddly enough, like he might cry. Sam found this all very disturbing and wished that she was at home on her sofa watching a nice documentary on quantum physics.

"The locals were suspicious of us, they didn't like us because apparently we were extremely rude." He fixed Jack with a glare. Jack wasn't paying attention and missed it. "Anyway," Daniel continued, "they were willing to trade for the device at first, but during the negotiations it became apparent that they were also trading with the Goa'uld, and thought that giving technology to us that would be used against the Goa'uld would be breaking their trade agreement. So they locked us in a cell, we escaped, separated, and while we were trying to escape… Sam was killed."

"You didn't see Major Carter when she died?" General Hammond asked Jack.

"Actually I wasn't with them at the time. And she's not dead." The colonel replied.

Sam was frowning.

"That's not exactly how I remember it. What about you, sir?"

"I don't know, I wasn't there!" He said again. Everybody else looked at Jack strangely.

"But what about earlier? I don't remember them ever saying they were trading with the Goa'uld."

"Exactly! Daniel, you're wrong." He looked at Daniel smugly.

"About what?" The archaeologist replied.

"They weren't trading with the Goa'ulds! They gave us the device, and we left peacefully."

"No we didn't."

"Yes we did!" Jack and Sam said together. There was a confused silence.

Janet, who had been watching from the corner of the room, walked over to the table and fixed Jack with a piercing look.

"Are you sure that this isn't just a reaction to grief?" She asked him.

Jack looked bewildered.

"What grief?"

Daniel and Janet exchanged looks. Then they looked at General Hammond. He looked back. Teal'c looked at the table. Jack looked annoyed.

"Carter is alive! She's right here, sitting next to me. I think you're all confused."

"I saw her die, Jack!" Daniel said tensely. "So did Teal'c. And no one else can see her except you. Maybe you're just…" He stopped.

"Just what?"

"Maybe you're imagining her."

Another silence. More looks. No one seemed to know what to say.

"Colonel, it's a common reaction when you lose someone to pretend that they're still alive. I think your mind has shut out your memories of Sam dying."

"I'M NOT DEAD!" Sam cried, at the same time as Jack also cried out:

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!"

Janet and Daniel shared looks of helplessness. Sam and Jack shared looks of impatience. General Hammond was starting to get a headache. Teal'c has still not moved or showed any signs that he was even awake.

"I have an idea." Sam said suddenly.

"It had better be a good one!" Jack glared.

"What would be a good one?" Daniel asked.

"Carter says she has an idea."

"What?"

"I'm going to tell you things about me that you couldn't possibly know." Sam explained.

"She says she's going to tell me things that only she would know." Jack repeated. Daniel looked suspicious.

"How do we know what you know about Sam?"

"They'll be really obvious." Sam reassured him, forgetting that he couldn't here. Jack repeated it for Daniel's sake. "Okay," she started, "last week I went to see Janet about um… a rash…"

Jack told everyone this. Janet almost looked amused.

"That's true," she said, "and considering where the rash was I really can't see any reason why she would have told Colonel O'Neill about it."

"So where was this rash?" Jack asked interestedly. Both Janet and Sam ignored him.

"This still doesn't prove that Major Carter is really here." Hammond reminded them. "We have no proof that the Colonel didn't know that except for his word, and at the moment that's not much to go on." He gave Janet a look that was definitely not comforting.

"And when I was 13, I failed a science exam. Did you here that? Yes I actually FAILED a science exam! I got 24! And when I was 15 I went out with some guy called Steven who had awful acne but I broke up with him after I found out that he was cheating on me with some girl called Louise, and when I was 16 I went and…but wait, you probably don't want to know that…" Sam said frantically.

Jack gave her a curious look. "He was cheating on you! Why!" But before she could reply, Hammond decided that this was a sign that Jack was definitely out of his mind, and called the briefing to an end.

"Doctor, I think you'd better take him along to the infirmary." He said firmly. Jack looked indignant. Janet looked grim. Daniel looked lost. Teal'c looked like Teal'c. Sam looked very, very, frustrated. She swore loudly.

"I'm so very glad for your sake that no one else heard that." Jack remarked dryly to the air in front of him.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N ok ok, it's short. But I thought I'd better post this anyway. Besides, all my chapters are going to be pretty short, because I really don't like reading long chapters because it takes aaages. Again, ignore all spelling and grammatical errors. ; I know they're there….somewhere….

OMG! I wrote this MONTHS ago, but then my account died and it wouldn't let me update any of my stories. ( But it works no! It WORKS!

Jack sat in his office, after having escaping from the infirmary and Janet's evil glare. She was still worried about him, but since there was nothing physically wrong with him she had decided that it wouldn't do much good keeping him in there.

He looked up to see Sam walk through the wall. She sat down moodily on his desk and glared.

"This is bad." She stated.

"Tell me about it!" He grumbled back.

"There is something seriously wrong here. I'm… I'm HERE! I feel, here, yet… I'm not."

"At least people don't think you're CRAZY!"

Sam stared. "At least people don't think you're DEAD!" She retorted. They glared at each other for a few moments, before realising that it wasn't going to solve anything.

"So why aren't you playing with any of your…machines…" Jack asked.

"I tried." Sam replied mournfully. "I cant hold any of them. You're the only thing that's solid for me."

"That could be awkward." Jack said. "How do you eat?"

"Oh, I think there's something in the rules of being a ghost that involves not eating." Sam remarked dryly. Jack stared at her, disturbed by the word 'ghost.'

"You're not a ghost!" He protested.

"Well, I'm starting to feel like one." She replied. As if to prove her point, she started to sink slowly through the desk.

"Carter!" Jack cried, alarmed. Sam looked around to find that only her head was sticking out. She walked out of the desk hurriedly and glared at it.

"This isn't fair!" She wailed. "I could sit on the chair in the briefing room!"

"Try again." Jack suggested. She sighed and slowly sat back down on the desk.

"I can't actually feel it though." She said with a frown. "I think I'm just sitting on the air."

"Intriguing." Jack said with a raised eyebrow. "You know…er…" He continued, "have you actually considered the idea that you err…that I might be um… insane?"

Sam shook her head adamantly. "No sir. Never. You see, I AM me. I feel like me. Apart from floating through desks, I know that I'm real because I can think and feel and control myself. Of course," she added hastily, "that doesn't prove anything to you because if you were imagining me than I'd probably say something like that anyway."

"I see." Came the reply. He raised his other eyebrow. "So, in summary, you're you, and I'm reasonably sane. Can we all go home now?"

"That might be an issue for me." Sam sighed, wondering whether she'd be able to sit in a car seat. They both sat in silence for a few minutes and thought about how stressful their job was. Especially when everyone thought they were insane, or when nobody else could see them. It was a hard life.

"So," Jack began, "if you're not a ghost, and I'm not insane, then what do you think happened?" Sam pondered this.

"Well sir, I'm not sure if I'm physically here," she said carefully, "considering I'm not exactly physical. Yet I am here, so there must be something different about you that makes you able to see me while others can't. But so far, I don't have any theories as to why."

"Sounds like a good theory to me." Jack replied. She shrugged and stared at the floor.

"It would be really nice if we could convince everyone else that you're not grief-stricken and hallucinating."

"Oh yes. Very nice. Got any theories on that?"

"Still working on that too, sir." She grimaced.

There was nothing else to say. Sam got up slowly and walked back through the wall.


	4. Chapter 4

It has come to my attention that this has not been updated in a very long while.

…

ARGH. I AM SO SLACK. Anyway, I know it's horrifically short, and most probably boring, but hopefully I will actually have time soon to write a proper chapter. (

Sam wandered around the base feeling depressed. She had given up trying to think of a logical explanation and had taken to finding out how quickly she could get to places without using any of the doors. She had even managed to get lost for the first time in years. But soon the excitement of being about to walk through walls had worn off and she was starting to feel lonely again. What if there was no way to reverse what ever it was that had happened? What if she was stuck like this for ever? She was depressed that she started to sink through the floor. The room below her turned out to be the infirmary. Hearing a familiar voice from inside Janet's office, she wandered over to listen.

"What's your honest opinion on the situation?" Daniel was asking, his face set in a frown. Janet was sitting at her desk reading through files. She looked up and sighed.

"I don't know. You and Teal'c are very convincing."

"So you think Jack is…"

"Hallucinating? I'm not sure. The problem is, he's very convincing too."

"Janet, I saw Sam die. I saw it. Jack wasn't even there."

"How did he react afterwards?"

"Badly. He uh, he wouldn't believe it. He wanted to go back and see her body but there wasn't time."

"And then?"

"Then he started talking to her, as if she was still there."

There was a silence.

"I wonder how I died," Sam said curiously.

"Daniel, how did Sam die?" Janet asked, evidently thinking the same thing.

"She was blown apart," Daniel replied softly, "by a grenade"

"Ouch," Sam commented.

Janet winced.

"Well, now we just need to sort out which bits of your story actually happened and which bits didn't."

"Memory altering devices?" Daniel asked dubiously.

"It's not like you haven't come in contact with them before," Janet replied, "if Jack isn't mentally unstable then it's highly likely that at least one of you has had your memories altered."

"So…uh…we need to determine Jack's sanity…or lack thereof," Daniel said, evidently unsure of whether such a thing was possible.

"I asked McKenzie to come in and evaluate him."

"Jack is not going to appreciate that," Sam said, amused.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Daniel asked, raising an eyebrow, "because I really, really don't think that Jack would appreciate that."

Both of them stared at Janet imploringly. She sighed.

"It's for his own good, you know."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N another horrifically short chapter, but at least I actually wrote something – so there. School's been far too busy to think about fanfiction, but I'm really going to start making an effort now that it's the holidays. Cheers for the reviews.

Sam ran into (or rather, through) Jack as he was about to leave the base.

"Carter!" he said, "how's death?"

Sam ignored him.

"I've been thinking about what I can and can't do now that I'm…a ghost…and it seems that driving is something that may be a bit of a problem. And since I don't particularly feel like walking all the way home I was wondering if you could um…drive me?"

Jack listened to this speech carefully and seemed to be considering. He looked up to find himself being scowled at, and decided that this wasn't a good time to be annoying.

"Sure," he replied, "car's this way."

…

They sat in silence as Jack drove. Sam was concentrating fiercely on staying on her seat and not dropping out of the bottom of the car. Jack was weighing up the pros and cons of having his own private Carter that no one else could see or speak to. The pros were definitely winning.

They arrived at Sam's house a little while later and pulled into the driveway. Sam slipped through the car door and waved in thanks. She thought briefly about keys before walking through the wall of the house instead. It felt good to be home, especially after all that had happened. She settled down on the couch and sighed, thinking rather wistfully of the soft, silky cushions that she would be able to feel if she had a body. In this state sitting on the couch felt the same as sitting anywhere else.

….

After several hours Sam was bored. She had quickly discovered that as a ghost there was absolutely nothing that she could actually _do_ in her house. She couldn't even turn on the TV. Even more disturbing was the realisation that she couldn't sleep. Bodies needed sleep – ghostly apparitions did not. If only she could have rung someone to talk to, but even that was denied to her.

She ended up spending the night walking around her neighbourhood hopelessly. She felt too restless to stay in the house, but walking around in circles was starting to become tiresome. She felt odd. It was a feeling that she couldn't quite describe, though words like disjointed and disconnected seemed to fit. In the end she stalked back to her house and lay despairingly on her bed.

This ghost thing was overrated.


End file.
